The Problem of Human Trafficking

The UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery recognizes the fact that armed conflict increases the risk of women and girls being trafficked across international borders for forced sex work. Trafficking is rampant in conflict-prone areas that witness a complete breakdown of law and order. Nepal’s armed conflict was openly characteristic of this phenomenon wherein the basic economic support systems were destroyed and violent discrimination against vulnerable groups such as women and children were observed. A conflict situation, combined with pre-existing socio-economic hardships and gender biases make rural women and girls an easy target for traffickers to lure them for better life and high wage jobs and smuggle them across the border for forced sex work. In the event, women and minor girls are exposed to various forms of discrimination, harassment, violence and deplorable living conditions.

In 2005, Proponent Organization, with the support of UNIFEM, undertook a study in the trafficking-prone border regions of India and Nepal, covering eight districts with four from Nepal, namely, Morang, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur. The study assessed the livelihood situation of women and its relation to trafficking and recommended sustainable livelihood strategies as effective means to prevent trafficking among the border communities The study gathered information with the support of NGOs in Nepal.. The findings highlighted the miserable living conditions, mostly brought about by the conflict, of women belonging to the most vulnerable sections of the community:

– Women and girls in the border villages do not have even an identity of their own nor are their rights to basic services like shelter, health care and education respected; and, their right to life with dignity and economic security is violated with impunity.
– Most of the women found to be engaged in seasonal farming/farm labour had to bear with nearly 5-6 months of income-less life in a year.
– Women and adolescent girls, being illiterate and economically dependent, have become easy targets for illegal exploiters such as traffickers.
– High illiteracy – female illiteracy is as low as 6% in some of the study areas – and low economic skills are barring women from any potential economic as well as socio-political advancement that they could achieve.
– With household responsibilities, women’s burden increased as men migrated to cities and local economies collapsed due to the prevalence of the conflict.
One of the important recommendations of the study was to locally put into place sustainable livelihood strategies, owned and managed through community-based organizations, to successfully prevent trafficking and mitigate conflict risks.

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